Last year we were anxiously awaiting the date to arrive when friends from all over the United States would meet up IN PERSON for the very first time.  Having met online 17 years ago, we never dreamed that we would actually get the chance to meet in person, yet finally we did.  Sadly, it was due to one vital member of our little online community being struck with breast cancer.  We wanted to rally around her and offer our support, love, and prayers … in person.

One of our Lifetime friends from New Zealand tried desperately to make it before our dear friend, Debbie, passed away in November of 2014.  In the mist of making travel arrangements to go around the world to be at Debbie’s side, she faded away.  Our hearts were shattered the day we lost our precious friend.

Feeling this great loss, we tried to pick up the pieces and go on, yet everything was a reminder of Debbie.  Then, one day, our Kiwi friend, as Debbie so affectionately referred to him, announced that he was coming to see us after all.  He had a great desire to go to Debbie’s final resting place to speak his heart, and after much planning and preparing, the time has come for us to meet Vaughan at last!  Ah, yes, our little Kiwi has landed after traveling literally all week to get here.  He is resting up in a hotel and will be bombarded with giggly women come Friday afternoon when Sylvia and I will hunt him down to give him a hug of a Lifetime!!

Vaughan as kept us informed of all of the details of his flights.  He would “check in” at every hotel and update his status so we’d know exactly where he was and when we would need to run for the nearest hill.  Just kidding.  We are all anxiously awaiting our meeting Friday afternoon, and you KNOW I’ll be back to share all about it.  I can’t wait to hear his accent in person, too!

This post is entitled Trip of A Lifetime, as that is what Vaughan has been calling it.  We are BLESSED to have the Kiwi among us, in our online community as well as now, life and in person!  We are thankful that he sacrificed so much to make this dream a reality, and soon … very, very soon, we will be meeting in person!  God is so good to have allowed us to meet!   Who would have ever thought that he, all the way over in New Zealand, would be coming here to meet us?!   Ah yes, a Trip of A Lifetime – for Friends of A Lifetime!

We are blessed and so grateful.

Our friends truly have become our family.  We have claimed them a long time ago.  We have shared so many things through these past 17 years.  The great and wonderful things that have happened in our lives, as well as the heartache and pain.  None of us had to go through any of our troubles or trials alone for we had each other through it all.

My heart is overjoyed, and I wait in great anticipation!

Hold your friends close to your heart and let them know every day how much they mean to you.  Life is too short.  Make your dreams come true, just as Vaughan has for himself as well as for Sylvia and I, too!

Blessings to you and all of your online friendships!